Slimmer beachfront work gets Kenilworth trustees’ go-ahead

Kenilworth residents should be able to enjoy a 2026 summer at the beach, now that Kenilworth trustees have approved a slenderized $6.98 million worth of bids for the second phase of Kenilworth’s sprawling water plant and lakefront project.

The approvals mean construction can start after Labor Day and end before next summer’s beach opening, village officials said. 

Trustee Christopher Ottsen, who heads the board’s public works committee, said saving the 2026 summer season prompted some of the cuts and project postponements that trustees approved at their Aug. 18 meeting. They did so via two resolutions: one approving most of the bid awards, and another changing the final price of three subcontractor awards by more than a million dollars.

“We deliberated this for quite some time,” after opening 17 trade package bids for 38 proposals last month, he said, adding that the project team paid attention to residents’ feedback as they did so.

When officials opened bids on July 16, the initial combined subcontractor package total of $6.94 million, plus costs for Bulley & Andrews Construction, the Chicago company handling project risk management, hit $8.4 million, Village Manager Kathy Thake said — significantly higher than initial Village projections.

Village and project officials shrank the price tag, cutting it several ways, including postponing some work to later construction phases, she said. Those helped prune $1.09 million from the second phase of work, bringing the second phase of work from $6.4 million to $5.33 million, Thake said.

Those changes, plus the construction management cost, brought the final price for the second phase of work to $6.98 million, a number that still tops the village’s goal of $6.9 million, she said.

Among the cuts: 

• Cutting the “stramp” — the combination step and ramp down to the beach — from this phase of work;
• Reducing site lighting;
• Substituting lower cost materials in portions of the phase;
• Eliminating railing refurbishment;
• Cutting out most planned demolition inside the actual water plant building; and
• Eliminating work on the building roof and Devonshire Lane paving.

Answering Trustee Joseph Vitu’s question, project manager Ben Steele acknowledged that the schedule was a tight one. He said that was because much of the work would depend on weather. 

“We’ve done what we can to build risk management into the schedule. But we’re getting somewhat of a little later start than was intended,” he said. 

Trustee Amelia Hannus — who chairs the board’s building, planning, and zoning committee and who also worked with the Lakefront Planning Group said she hoped the pending 2026 budget could provide at least some amenities for people using the beach and building facilities, including things like shade provisions. Village staff are currently working on next year’s budget, and that sort of thing can be considered, Thake said.

Money for the second phase of Kenilworth’s beach protection and modernization project, including last year’s $992,893 shoreline work, comes in part from a $2.5 million bond issue that voters approved this past March. Village officials expect that roughly a third of phase costs will come out of the 2025 budget; the remaining two-thirds are to be part of the 2026 budget.

In August of 2024, village officials estimated the eventual final cost for the entire multi-phase project could be $8.4 million, which they hope could be partly funded by about $2.5 million in private donations.

Former Trustee Alison Winslow, who served on the lakefront committee during her tenure, urged trustees to communicate with Kenilworth residents about work progress, even more than they have. She complimented Thake on work on the project since last fall, but suggested that the village go beyond mailings and website updates to keep residents apprised of project progress. 

She also reminded the board and Thake that the entire project, and residential feedback that affected it, goes back until at least 2017 and the first vision of how to use the water plant atop the beach was much broader and ambitious than the current work.

“I was very surprised (at) the latest round of scaling back due to expenses,” Winslow said. “It was a much, much smaller project than I had internalized. … I’m not sure the community has internalized what they think they were getting and what we have.”

More information on the beach protection and building modernization project can be found on the village’s project update web page as well as the Aug. 18 meeting packet.

The Record is a nonprofit, nonpartisan community newsroom that relies on reader support to fuel its independent local journalism.

Become a member of The Record to fund responsible news coverage for your community.

Already a member? You can make a tax-deductible donation at any time.